College Football Top 25- Week 7

We finally have a unanimous #1. The Georgia Bulldogs collected every AP voter’s top overall vote, and as all of you know, I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, I have had Georgia at 1 over Alabama in every poll so far. Despite the mainstay at the top, there was a lot of movement in the top 25 due to multiple upsets and exciting matchups. Let’s break down each one.

Alabama 38. Texas A&M 41. The first time the Aggies beat the Crimson Tide since the days of Johnny Manziel (I’m still holding out hope for his NFL career, by the way). This was a perfectly played game by Jimbo Fisher’s squad, as even though they were outgained by 143 yards and held to under 100 yards rushing, they still managed to pull off the upset. The connection between Bryce Young (369 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) and receiver Jameson Williams (10 rec, 146 yards, 2 TDs) kept Alabama in this game for a long time, but eventually the Aggies were able to push through. Texas A&M quarterback Zach Calzada was a 3-star recruit and a backup in 2019, but took over the starting role this year. He has been nothing special so far this season, but boy did he break out in the biggest game of his career on Saturday. Calzada went for 285 yards and 3 TDs and managed the game beautifully. However, this could be attributed to the awful pass rush from the Crimson Tide. This has been a common theme all season, and it really hurt them here. Texas A&M was allowing 2.6 sacks a game going into Saturday’s matchup, and gave up 3 to Arkansas in their only loss of the season. The key to beating this team is to apply pressure to Calzada, and Bama failed to do so. They are going to struggle in the College Football Playoff if they cannot put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Additionally, while Bryce Young played a spectacular game, He made some crucial errors that cost his team the game. Early in the 2ndquarter with Bama down 10, Young threw an interception in the endzone on an awful pass.

There are a lot of things wrong with this play. For starters, it’s the wrong read. #1 Jameson Williams just needs an extra second to get open in the middle of the endzone, and the offensive line gives Young more than enough time to wait for him. Young’s eyes were also on his target the entire way, and defender Demani Richardson read them easily en route to an interception. Even if we ignore all those mistakes, if that is really the guy Young wanted to throw to, he has to get that ball up in the air. I’m not sure what made him think he could throw that ball on a line drive for a score, but clearly it was the wrong play. That’s three mistakes in one play, and based on the final score, it cost them the game. Bama is going to need much better quarterback play to have even a chance at the title.

People always talk about how hard it is to play in Happy Valley, but I think Iowa City has the top hostile environment in the Big 10. Did you know Penn State is just 7-6 in their last 13 white out games? Not very impressive. Meanwhile Iowa is 22-6 at home in the last five seasons. The rowdy crowd was on full display as the Hawkeyes ended up on top in a battle of top 5 teams. One of the biggest storylines was an injury to Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in the second quarter which led him to miss the rest of the game. This was a significant injury, but let’s be honest, it’s not like Clifford was playing the game of his life. He was 15/25 with 146 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 INTs. Again, not very impressive. This Iowa secondary is incredible, averaging 2.66 interceptions per game. While I still have my concerns about their offense, Spencer Petras again was a great game manager, not always perfect, but did enough to lead his team to victory. This victory means Iowa is essentially a lock for the Big 10 Championship game, as the rest of their schedule is quite easy. This was a very impressive win for the Hawkeyes, and I’m excited to see what they can do against the Big 10 East Champion.

Texas. Come on. After leading almost the entire way, Oklahoma stole a win from the Longhorns in a thrilling game. The Sooners scored 25 points in the 4th quarter on their way to a 55-48 win. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I have been highly critical of Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler, and his sloppy play finally caught up with him Saturday. Rattler was benched after 2 early interceptions in favor of 5-star freshman Caleb Williams, who went on to throw for 112 yards and 2 TDs. Early reports are saying Rattler is not happy at all with his benching, and rumors are he is flirting with the transfer portal. I can’t comment on the validity of those reports, but I will say it is hard to feel bad for him. If any of you watched “QB1: Beyond the Lights” on Netflix, you will understand. The series followed Rattler in his senior year of high school, where he constantly belittled and insulted his own teammates. Perhaps his disappointing season has been more of a lack of leadership than a lack of talent, but either way, Rattler is running out of chances. Oklahoma has a fairly easy schedule until their season finale against Oklahoma State, so head coach Lincoln Riley could definitely give Williams the reigns to the offense and get him settled before any meaningful games. As for Texas, this game drops them to 2 losses, leaving them comfortably out of contention for the College Football Playoff. However, they could shake things up in the Big 12 if they beat Oklahoma State tomorrow.

After such a thrilling week, the schedule cools off a little bit tomorrow. Don’t let people try to sell you on Georgia-Kentucky being a good game. Kentucky is going to get embarrassed. It is going to be ugly. However, nothing will be uglier than Alabama’s beatdown of Mississippi State tomorrow. Since 2010, the Crimson Tide is 9-1 following a regular season loss, 3 of those wins coming over Mississippi State. Expect a slaughter for Bama. Be sure to see if Oklahoma State can stay undefeated against Texas tomorrow, but other than those three games, there aren’t many games to note. However, definitely tune in to some of the top teams and see what they are made of as we enter the final stretch of the season!